FREERIDER

Artist Information

Biography

FREERIDER is a power trio with thick, melodic guitars, introspective, honest lyrics and songwriting that reflects a lifetime of listening to, developing and creating music.

From The Beatles to Metallica to U2 and every great band in between, listeners feel FREERIDER's influences. The Police, Van Halen, AC/DC, King's X, Pearl Jam, Tool, Audioslave, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Rush have all had a hand in stirring the musical stew that is FREERIDER.

FREERIDER formed in Boston as Mere Mortals by bassist/vocalist, Todd. Current members have been together since 1993 forging a 15 year history as band members, friends & songwriting partners.

Inspired by current bands like Foo Fighters, Alter Bridge, Shinedown, Bullet For My Valentine, Deftones, Breaking Benjamin, Operator, Hoobastank, 10 Years and Stone Sour, FREERIDER embraces the future of music, too.

FREERIDER wrote, recorded and mixed their debut CD entirely at drummer Waybright's home studio "The Time Vacuum". The band released demos and performed extensively around Greater Boston.

FREERIDER performed at Boston's prestigious Hatch Shell on the Esplanade as part of the NARAS Grammy Festival (as Mere Mortals).

Inspired by the character in their pop-metal anthem "No Ride Denied", the trio morphed in to FREERIDER in 1999 when two other Mere Mortals emerged with CDs, web sites, etc. "No Ride Denied" became the obvious title track and FREERIDER finally released their debut regionally on the bands' own Enduro Music Productions label in 2000. FREERIDER played several noteworthy New England dates to support its release.

FREERIDER performed the 2001 New England dates of the Ernie Ball Moto Music Madness Tour .

FREERIDER has extensive individual and collective performing, recording and collaborative songwriting experience:

* Guitarist Steve Coyne holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Professional Music from Berklee College of Music.
* Drummer Jeremy Waybright completed Percussion and Recording Technology Programs at Musicians Institute, Hollywood, CA.
* Bassist/vocalist/lyricist Todd Erickson holds a PhB (Phat Bass) from FREERIDER UNIVERSITY, the band's own "school of rock", http://www.myspace.com/freerideru

Erickson also received a Boston Music Award for "Best Rock Song" with his former pop/punk/metal trio, "SHAKE THE FAITH".

FREERIDER and manager Bruce Replogle (former PR for John Lennon, The Band, John Mellencamp, etc) are currently exploring opportunities for the CD and the songs with publishers, producers and licensing agents. CD Baby is handling distribution of the current release of "No Ride Denied".

US, UK and Ireland tours are being planned for spring/summer 2009 in supoort of "No Ride Denied".

After 15+ years hitch-hiking the back roads of life, FREERIDER gratefully embraces the experiences that have brought them to this juncture.

FREERIDER is standing on the shoulder of the super highway to the future, bravely holding a sign that pleads, "No Ride Denied".

Thank you for the ride.

Instrumentation

Todd Erickson - Bass/Lead Vocals/Lyrics/Songs

Steve Coyne - Guitar/Backing Vocals/Songs

Jeremy Waybright - Drums/Backing Vocals/Songs

Discography

No Ride Denied - 12 song CD for the band's own Enduro Music Productions label.

"I've Got A Nickel" is in the final tier of judging in the 2008 BILLBOARD SONG CONTEST.

FREERIDER has become a MySpace and Reverb Nation streaming favorite earning thousands of plays and rave reviews in just a few months.

Audio

• I've Got A Nickel
  Listen  
• Not Always What I Want
  Listen  
• No Ride Denied
  Listen  
• My Mind Is A Box
  Listen  
• Spirit of Change
  Listen  
• I'm Satisfied
  Listen  

Lyrics

• I've got a Nickel
• Not Alway What I Want
• No Ride Denied
• My Mind is a Box (Breathe)
• Spirit of Change
• I'm Satisfied

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• American Beauty meets American Beast [+ Show ]
  

  Freerider ‘No Ride Denied’ There are some bands and, at first listen, you know this band got somet...Freerider ‘No Ride Denied’
  There are some bands and, at first listen, you know this band got something important going on. There is an urgency and direction to the album ‘No Ride Denied’ that suggests these guys have a vision and are going places. I for one am rooting for them to get there.
  If you wanted to go looking for America, in the coolest sense of the word, you might just find it in Freerider’s ‘No Ride Denied’. It might be termed an Easy Rider of the 21st century. These guys certainly weren’t born to follow; rather Freerider are a band that are breaking new ground and breaching adventurous musical territory where other bands fear to wander.
  This is a technically excellent and lyrically rich album from a band that has style, sound and substance. Some bands have that big sound, but there’s something missing in the mix. Freerider also possess the substance that many bands lack and I am confident that their musical panache will keep them afloat in the unpredictable swells of the music ocean today. The band’s unique and refreshingly original sound catapult these guys to a different dimension completely than other bands working within similar genres.
  Freerider undeniably have a big sound. You don’t mind a big noise when there is artistry behind it and, after listening to ‘No Ride Denied’, the thought came to my mind that “It’s a beautiful noise, a sound that I love….” There are echoes here of Guns N’Roses, Metallica, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Eddie Vedder, the singer who provided the amazing soundtrack to Into the Wild. But to their credit Freerider have crafted and honed a sound all of their own, a sound that can be singularly and definitely be called Freerider.
  One of the standout songs for me is ‘My Mind Is A Box’ an anthemic track that fluctuates musically from gritty to gentle and the following lyrics reveal a poetic side to this heavy rock band:
  “A knock, no answer
  A bell, no sound
  A whisper across a meadow
  A scream in the fog”
  This song has an emotional arc and thrust that show the musical complexity and depth of Freerider. These guys can get pretty complex on you – see where their music takes your mind.
  In the next track, an insistent, irrepressible metal sound takes hold of you by the throat and won’t let you go, as Steve Coyne exclaims: “Will I hate my brother, blame him for my pain? Spend my life in living hell? Will I hear the wisdom and realize? Not always what I want…”
  A hallmark of this CD is the dramatic changes of tempo, and on ‘Ageless Veins’ Freerider temporarily abandon the thrasing of previous songs for a soft rock approach that breaks down in a comfortable bed of air guitar. This song contains the best lyrics on the entire CD in a song polulated with “Lovers, drifters and anglers.” The song paints a vivid picture of a time and place:
  “In the woods along River Rd. is a footpath
  Winding
  Through giant pines and ancient maples
  It was well worn for generations….
  Satiated desires in the life-giving flow
  And sunbeams made diamonds that danced”
  It is probably fair to say that track 7 ‘Crash’ is vintage Freerider. This one ups the ante in terms of sound, technical prowess and showcases kick-ass lyrics (“Gripping the wheel of tomorrow/Steering with nearsighted hands/Ignite the fuel of indecision/Run your race like a last lap mission”)
  ‘I’m Satisfied’ is a spectral piece bursting with searing lyrics (“Nations rise and fall underneath your feet….A hungry generation stands back looking for a sign/In the midst of all this turmoil/We want some blazing light to shine.” There’s moody riffs, killer hooks and lighter-than-air guitar here. If you can’t get no satisfaction from the music you listen to, check out this song and you will find that you are satisfied acoustically, musically, lyrically. This peach of a song has it all. The air guitar playing on this one would make Slash sit up and take notice….
  This review would be incomplete without a mention of the titular track ‘No Ride Denied’ – a song which picks you up in the desert in the middle of the night and deposits you on a sunlit street the next morning. ‘No Ride Denied’ in its images and dispositon brings to mind one of my favourite films, The Hitcher. This song has the darkest lines on the CD “The hitchhiker’s sign pleaded No Ride Denied/Testing him for a destination he calmly replied/I’m prying the heads off the nail in the coffins of the living dead…” It’s like something that would come straight off the lips of Rutger Hauer’s character in that knife-edge thriller. “Driving in darkness I pondered the fate of the sick-minded stray.”
  This is a song that brings to life the vast cast of characters one encounters hitchhiking on the road and the unpredictability of what might come from letting them inside when there is “no ride denied.” Will that mysterious passenger pull a knife or a packet of chewing gum? You just never know. “I’m going your way/Will you go my way?” the “freerider in your headlights” will say. Will you go his way or, as in the Fleetwood Mac song “go your own way.” Surely it’s more fun to have company. The Freerider guys are the sort to give ‘em all the benefit of the doubt. To their way of thinking, there should be ‘No Ride Denied’. This racy song speeds to its unspoken destination with wonderful musical panache and Freerider’s crisp sound comes to the fore fantastically for a song that represents great musical storytelling. This would be a great song for a road movie, for a sort of postmodern Easy Rider or a (decent) remake of The Hitcher! On the CD credits the original Freerider (Dan Craig) is identified. The band wonder where he is now…
  A word should be said about the fine photography and artwork on the CD: the cover offers a silhouetted shot of the Freerider guys in the shadows; flip over and they are pictured in the shadows again, but with a light on their faces. It’s cleverly done. As you open out the liner, you find an image of the map of America; facing it is an inversion of the same image, almost as if the United States is being presented with a counterpoint to itself. It’s almost like a face-off between the ‘American Beauty’ and the American beast, a possibility which arises in some of the lyrics.
  All in all, ‘No Ride Denied’ is an expertly mounted piece of musical and lyrical craftsmanship with razor-fine attention to musical detail and songwriting. The Freerider members (Steve Coyne on Guitars and Vocals, Todd Erickson on Bass and Lead Vocals and Jeremy Waybright on Drums and Vocals) are exemplary practitioners of hard rock/Metallica-esque metal music and give a lesson in how this sort of thing should be done. The three players are tight as a drum.
  Big sound and heavy rock can be drowned in a pool of narcissistic meaninglessness if the lyrics don’t carry weight; in the case of Freerider, their lyrics are loaded with meaning, hidden messages and, sometimes, shimmering poetry. These are thought-provoking songs, honest and even heart-stopping lyrics which soar on the wings of “Eddie Vedder/Chris Cornell-ish vocals over a thick bed of guitar-drenched, 3-piece groove metal.” In one of their first contacts with me, the band challenged “Put Freerider on 11 and shred some air guitar.” Well it has been well and truly shredded! Freerider describe themselves as “forever in the groove” – the band brings a strong vibe with them. They preach “a Gospel of Grooves, Guitars and Love.” This summer that Gospel is set to reach the east side of the Atlantic and it is exciting to hear that Freerider will be coming to this part of the world. This is a band that is going places and, most importantly, know where they are going, and why. On top of all that, Steve, Todd and Jeremy are just three thoroughly likeable guys.
  (Marty McCool Music Reviews)
  
  

• ROCK MANAGEMENT USA signs FREERIDER [+ Show ]
  

  FREERIDER is pleased to announce that a management deal has been reached with ROCK MANAGEMENT USA ow...FREERIDER is pleased to announce that a management deal has been reached with ROCK MANAGEMENT USA owner Bruce Replogle. Bruce, former PR for John Lennon, The Band, John Mellencamp & others, will handle general management affairs and global publicity. Please see ROCK MANAGEMENT USA's site for Bruce's complete bio: http://www.myspace.com/brucester777
  

• #1 on REVERB NATION! [+ Show ]
  

  FREERIDER climbs to the top of the ROCK genre on the prestigious REVERB NATION charts. http://www...FREERIDER climbs to the top of the ROCK genre on the prestigious REVERB NATION charts.
  
  http://www.reverbnation.com/freerider

• FREERIDER selected for final tier of Billboard Song Contest! [+ Show ]
  

  This just in: Our song, "I've Got A Nickel", is selected for final tier of judging in the 16th An...This just in:
  
  Our song, "I've Got A Nickel", is selected for final tier of judging in the 16th Annual Billboard Song Contest.
  
  Comments are pasted from the review:
  
  First Reviewed:
  January 21, 2009
  Status:
  Interested
  Updated On: February 12, 2009
  Response: Judges Feedback: I've Got A Nickel
  
  Tight dynamics. Lyrics create visual imagery for the listener. Creative and thoughtful lyrical concept. Good chorus distinction
  
  True story about a homeless guy I used to see on Harrison St near City Hospital.
  
  Click the player to listen.

• "Who the hell is FREERIDER?" [+ Show ]
  

  "...tight song writing..." "...reminiscent of King's X, with aggressive guitar riffs, strong bari-t..."...tight song writing..." "...reminiscent of King's X, with aggressive guitar riffs, strong bari-tenor vocals and soul-searching lyrics."

• So how good is it? [+ Show ]
  

  So how good is it? Could FREERIDER be a bid deal? "Yep, it's of that level," syas the WCGY-FM an...So how good is it? Could FREERIDER be a bid deal?
  
  "Yep, it's of that level," syas the WCGY-FM and longtime Boston music scene fixture.

• Little Big Show [+ Show ]
  

  "...enjoyed the new FREERIDER disk, "No Ride Denied", a mix of late-70's Jethro Tull and Led Zeppeli..."...enjoyed the new FREERIDER disk, "No Ride Denied", a mix of late-70's Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin and mid-80's Guns 'N Roses..."

Setlist

12 to 15 original songs. Covers are limited to FREERIDER versions of Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly" and Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like An Eagle". Select classic blues/rock tribute songs are used as encores.

Basic Requirements

Calendar